Char Koehler

Changes

2007-09-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

As I am going through a lot of changes in my life right now, and am preparing to move into a much smaller place and live alone, I have had to put aside my art for awhile. Unfortunately, I will no longer have my studio and have been giving away, throwing out and preparing to store a large portion of my art supplies. I have been giving away my painted canvasses and will have to store my unfinished pieces. Instead of my art haven, I will put all my supplies in a closet and only take them out when I want to use them, and do my work on the kitchen table. But such is life. I am moving on in my life and changes are inevitable. But changes are also often good. I'm trying to look on all this as something positive and live in the moment. I don't move till the end of the month, but after living in a house for 17 years and collecting found objects and everything else, it takes a long time to go through everything and decide what are the most important things for me to keep. I do like to give things away and see the happiness in another's face when they receive what I give them. So I won't have much to post for awhile. Maybe once in a while I will be able to write something in here, but for about a month, it looks like I'll be out of commission as far as my blog and my art go. But my life is full and I am at peace.

Walking

2007-08-30T20:15:00.000-07:00

I've been going for a lot of walks lately and feeling good energy and vitality as a result. Tonight I brought my camera with me and wanted to share some of the beauties that nature gives us so freely. This spider was just waiting to have his picture taken - he sat so still; maybe he was sleeping.

I love the look of echinacea flowers in the fall - the way they droop.

This looks like it would be a good tree to climb, but it was in someone's yard, so I didn't think it would be a good idea.

Poetry

2007-08-22T10:28:00.001-07:00

I have been going through a lot of very difficult things in my life lately. But with loss comes rebirth and newness. With honesty comes peace. I have not been able to create any art lately - the inspiration just will not come. I know it will eventually again, but right now, my feelings are coming out in poetry.

it’s been a dreary cloudy day
for so long
the rain has soaked through my clothes
but i hardly notice

my skin has become numb

and the sweat mingles with the rain
i run through the smog
barely able to breathe
my lungs gasping for air

wondering if i will survive

my heart was full at one time

as the days and years went by

i freely gave of myself

first an arm

then a leg

i gave my soul

my mind…

have i become an empty shell

with nothing left to give

or can i be refilled somehow?

as i run

i wonder

am i still a whole being

have the parts reconnected…

i can only think that i have to escape

nowhere to go but up

as i reached the bottom long ago

my eyes were closed

a mask positioned upon my face

that i placed upon myself

so i would not see

suddenly desperate

i have torn it off

and opened my eyes

what i see causes the tears

to sting my face

the saltiness

enters my mouth

and i accept it

i must take flight

the wings i never knew i had

have lifted me from the ground

and carried me away

gently, tenderly

caressing my soul

i feel the limbs begin to grow

but i will not walk

i will fly

2007-08-13T17:28:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be out of commission for about a week, and then I'll start posting again. I haven't had time to do much art except for a bunch of ATC's for the next trade happening next Sunday and I haven't been very inspired lately to create. Maybe I need to listen to music and meditate. I've been going for long walks; going further than I've gone in a long time, and walking fast. It really makes me feel good to feel my heart beat faster and feel the fresh evening air flowing through my lungs. I love to see the summer flowers in all their bright colors and the tall trees dancing in the wind. I should have done this a long time ago, but anytime is a good time to start.

2007-08-10T17:30:00.001-07:00

Having gone back to work this week, I haven't had time to do any art, but I did go to the Vancouver Art Gallery to view the Monet to Dali exhibition, which included Manet, Monet, Cézanne, Modigliani, van Gogh, Rodin, Picasso, Dali and other European artists. It was definitely a treat for the eyes. There were also quite a few sculptures, including a bronze Thinker. Also showing was the House of Oracles, from one of China's most contemporary artists, Huang Yong Ping. Many of his pieces were huge, including a 100-foot long wooden python skeleton.

On to other things. Here is a poem I wrote that may feel true to many of you.

Creatures running round
in my head
trying to escape
they don't recognize
each other
or the walls that keep them in
my head feels
the pressure
wanting to burst
every morning
on auto pilot
i fulfil my daily duties
by rote
knowing my head is full
of unknown territory
i'm only scratching the surface
the truth slips past me
i reach out to grasp it
and it's gone
i lie still
breathing deeply
turn inward
the creatures rest
i know them.

My Sister's Art

2007-08-06T15:41:00.000-07:00

My sister, Karen, is an artist too, but her art is very different from mine. She uses oils and watercolours together in her paintings. I thought it would be nice to post them so everyone can see her art as well. She signs her pieces "Karen Louise."

Underground

Aquatic Life

Potted Plant

Illumination

Fabric Collage Progress

2007-08-06T15:14:00.000-07:00

Today I created this collage using the second face I painted on fabric. Here is how it looks so far. Now I just have to create a border for each of them and then I think they will be finished.

Today is also the last day of my three week holiday. I didn't travel anywhere, only in my mind. It has been very relaxing and I wish it could go on and on. I crammed as much as I could into each day, not wanting any day to end. I spent time with family and friends and also spent time alone trying to extend the borders of my art.

Another Fabric Face

2007-08-05T17:03:00.000-07:00

I worked on another face today that I painted on fabric. This is how far I got. I'm going to make it into a fabric collage as well, but this time I didn't paint it with gesso first. I'm hoping that will keep it from bunching up like the last one did when I sew it together.

Fabric Face Collage

2007-08-02T15:42:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a fabric collage. I started by painting a piece of muslin with gesso, then I drew the face on it. I colored it with watercolor pencils and then used a wet paintbrush on it. I was happy with the face, but when I sewed all the pieces together today, I had a little problem with the gessoed fabric bunching up. Next time, I might just do it directly on the muslin. But it's my first time painting on fabric, so I'm not too fussed about it.

Today's Faces

2007-07-30T17:35:00.000-07:00

I did three new faces today. I've always done them on paper and want to try them on fabric for a change, maybe muslin. I'll try that later this week. As I am doing them on a drawing pad and I start with the eyes, somehow, some of them end up being too big for the paper, and I can't finish the hair, which I love doing too.

Birds Eye View finished

2007-07-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

I've finally finished my bird project that I posted awhile ago, unfinished. I left it on the foamboard and created a shadow box around it. I used watered down glue and tissue paper on the "frame" and painted it with Nickel Azo Gold and Chromium Green. Looks really organic and I'm happy with it. On to the next!

Poem

2007-07-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a poem I wrote. Sometimes the only way I can say how or what I'm feeling is with poetry.

Crushed beyond repair
the weight of the world
fallen on the broken bodies
the mysteries of the universe
just beyond reach
the future
is not within grasp
the past haunts
and begs to be forgotten
the present slips by
the moment, the second
one is aware of now
it is gone
never to return
crushed like dried rose petals
never to bloom again
but the fragrance
lingers on
through time.

Sadness

2007-07-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

I was feeling sad last night. So what to do, have a good cry or paint? I took one of my face drawings that looks very sad and transferred it to a painted canvas. I painted her and added a singing bird to cheer her up. Today's another day.

Mansions

2007-07-24T15:45:00.000-07:00

Here is a painting/collage I did that was a lot of fun. We all live somewhere, most of us in houses, and to some, whatever they live in is a mansion to them. Our homes should be our palaces, our places of solace, where we can run to when we need comfort or protection, but not everyone has that. These houses are just for fun, with all kinds of imaginable things happening inside them.

Rain in July

2007-07-20T19:16:00.000-07:00

If you think that those of us that live in Canada are in the cold, here's a couple of pictures of what's happening here in Vancouver weather wise. Mind you, usually in July, we do have hot weather and just last week, it was so hot I was complaining. But now, we're living in a rain forest. It rained so hard, it sounded like huge hailstones on the roof, but it was just water. Send me the sun again! The pictures are from my back porch, and it looks like snow on the skylight, but it's rain!

Birds

2007-07-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

I decided to try something other than people and go for the birds. I was thinking about how free birds are and how bound most people are. We get caught up in money, possessions, relationships, truth and fiction, and playing games. We get stressed and it affects our health and everything else in our lives. Birds don't have much, but at the same time, they have everything. They always have a song in their hearts. They sing in the rain and in the sunshine. They create their nests and sit on their eggs, show their babies to fly and then let them go, which is more than a lot of us do. Birds can teach us a lot; we just have to stop what we're doing for a few minutes and watch the birds. I painted a background of blue, green and white, then wrote a story about birds and people over the entire foundation. Most of it I covered up with gesso. Our stories get covered up all the time.
I painted the birds and houses on muslin, and tried to make them 3D by stuffing them a bit with batting. I don't know if I like what I did with it, but I tried to show bird's lives and peoples lives together. Birds don't get parking tickets for sitting in trees, and they don't need prescriptions from doctors, or have to write cheques to buy their nests.

I haven't fastened the birds to the substrate yet - I may sew them onto fabric instead. Let me know what you think.

Here is a close up of one of the birds

Painted faces

2007-07-20T18:23:00.000-07:00

Here are two more faces I painted today. The blond one looks to me like she's very unhappy. I am going to try to make a collage with some of these faces.

Purse

2007-07-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

Some of you have asked me to post a photo of the purse I made for Haute Handbags 2. So here it is. The glasses case on the front of the purse was made with a Smarties box. I covered it with a couple of layers of cardboard to make it stronger, covered it with the same paper as the purse, and then coated it with Crackle Medium. At first, i just wanted the insert on the front, then I saw a pair of broken reading glasses, and knew they were meant to be in there; of course they fit perfectly. You can also see inside the purse.

As I am on holidays for three weeks and not going anywhere in particular, I hope to get a lot of artwork done and share it here. On Sunday, I went to my first ATC trade and brought the ATCs that I posted earlier. I met some great artists and kindred spirits and went home with wonderful miniature works of art. But of course, I couldn't go home before I went to RubyDog's and get my fill of a bag full of Leanne's goodies. The great thing is that Leanne can tell you the year that each item was made in. As she processed a sheet of German scraps, she told me the story of how they were made in the late 1800's, and how the early scrap books got started. But you'll have to go there to hear the whole story. Her link is on my Favourite Places list.

More Faces

2007-07-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

The face as I drew it

Here I added a Fresco filter in PhotoShop

The second face as I drew it

Here I added color to it in PhotoShop

Here I went a little further in PhotoShop and added an Ice Cube filter

I drew two more faces tonight. I'm back to doing what I really love. And, once again, I played with them in PhotoShop, which makes it even more fun. Maybe after I've done a bunch of faces, I can incorporate them into a collage.

New Faces

2007-07-13T20:45:00.000-07:00

PhotoShop altered above

Tonight I decided to draw a couple of faces without painting them. When I was a young girl, that's what I did. I have an old scrapbook with my drawings and it's so funny to look at. When I was a teenager, I had friends sit for me, and I would draw their portrait in about half an hour and I made them very realistic. I don't know if I could still do that. Now I mainly draw faces from my imagination, and sometimes as I draw them, I feel that they have a personality and I get to know them. I had to play with them in PhotoShop too, so I've added them as well.

Jhodi Bennett

2007-07-10T17:46:00.000-07:00

I want to share with you artwork by an incredible artist from Australia, Jhodi Bennett. We have been emailing and sharing artwork back and forth for nearly two years now, and none of her pieces are on the Internet, which is a real shame. Her art is bold and unique; she has a style all of her own. Jhodi teaches workshops, sells her work in Australia and has been published many times in Stamping and Papercraft.

The Dress

Distractions

City Stories

Clay on the Catwalk

Nesting Shoe

Holly McFadden

2007-07-10T07:23:00.001-07:00

The phone call was from my friend, Ann, who I was happy to hear from; then she told me that Holly McFadden was murdered last week. She was stabbed to death by a male friend. We were good friends for awhile, then drifted apart as we both changed jobs and I hadn't seen her in about seven years. But I just can't believe it. I'm in total shock. Now, she is just a name in a little article in her local newspaper, but she was bigger than life to many people. Everyone thought of her as happy and vivacious. I knew her as being sad and lonely. We met when we were both teaching computer courses for the North Vancouver School District. We were teaching adults in a Job Training program. She was very generous. One summer, she decided to throw a big party for all of our students. She arranged to have a make-up artist, a reflexologist, masseur, and a lot of other "stations" in her backyard, along with a barbecue. She really wanted to be good to people.

I was there when her marriage broke up. And then she started seeing one of her students. It wasn't as if he was young and she was old - they were both adults. But everyone looked down on her because of that. She was very confused at that point in her life and often looked to me for guidance. She also had MS to deal with every day, which wasn't easy. Most people didn't know that. I don't even know if she has family. She moved to Harrison Hotsprings and was teaching nearby. The newspaper says that she was killed by a male friend. I sometimes wonder how and why do friends drift apart. Do we all have people in our lives for a certain reason and only for the time that we or they need it? If everything happens for a reason, I really don't understand why murder happens. Did she die immediately or was it long and torturous? I do hope that she is now at peace. Holly, who was like Alice in Wonderland, rest in peace. After I found out, I wanted to do a quick painting of how I remembered her. I didn't do an exact or even near exact likeness of her, but this, to me, was what she was like inside. I wonder if that tear ever went away.

Faces

2007-07-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

Last night I decided to do a couple of quick faces. I've always loved drawing and painting faces. I used watercolor pencils, which I've only tried briefly before. This was the first face I did last night. Then I got a phone call...

Collage of my Grandmother

2007-07-09T07:32:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite images to use in collage is my grandmother. I love this photo of her and use it often. She lived in Russia until just after she was married. She was 25 here and a school teacher. She went on to have seven children, one of them being my mother. This is a very simple collage, done on the back cover of a notebook. I used the peeling paint technique described in Claudine Hellmuth's book Collage Discovery Workbook. It's a great book for background techniques, image transfers, composition and more.

Global Warming

2007-07-08T14:41:00.000-07:00

After seeing some of the Live Earth concerts for Global Warming, I decided to change a collage that I had done. It had never looked complete to me, but I had called it Everything Green. Today, I added clock faces to the architectural image, showing that we don't have all that much time left if we don't do something about it, and spots of gesso for holes in the ozone that are already there.

We all have to do our part, even if we start small. Like stop using plastic grocery bags every time we get groceries. I have tons of them. I'm going to get some cloth bags to reuse so I don't have to throw them in the garbage.

July 7

2007-07-07T20:06:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday today. I'm not feeling great today - low energy. I just feel like sleeping. Haven't done any art the last couple of days, but I'm looking forward to one week from now, when my holidays start. I hope to spend sooo much time in my studio, having lots of fun. Am I spending too much time alone? I sometimes ask myself. Next Sunday is the ATC trade at The Grind, so I'm looking forward to meeting more artists here in Vancouver. Something I've been learning lately is that we are all part of each other, and if we hurt someone else, we hurt ourselves. So, if we are good to others, even people we don't know, we are helping ourselves as well. I just got the new Cloth Paper Scissors and the new Somerset Studio, both of which are incredible issues. The art is getting better and better. I can immerse myself in there for hours.

Face

2007-07-04T16:58:00.000-07:00

It's so hot out today. Everybody seems to love it but me. I wish I could enjoy it, but my favorite seasons are spring and fall. Here is one of my many faces I drew, then I painted it with watercolor.

Later today

2007-07-03T19:00:00.001-07:00

I wanted to share with you the painting/collage I did that was published in the May/June issue of Somerset Studio, the Blue issue. I have wanted to be published in that magazine for so long, and finally sent something in. As I love painting faces, I did one of Billie Holiday. My photo is not as good as the one in Somerset Studio, but it will have to do here.

ATCs

2007-07-03T12:22:00.000-07:00

I spent a lot of the long weekend making ATCs. I never had the desire to create these before, but went to an "ATC make-and-take" at RubyDog's Art Shop a few weeks ago, and learned about the ATC trade on the 3rd Sunday of every month at The Grind Coffee Shop, and thought I would give it a go. The theme is wings - how can you tell? I made a dozen of them and had so much fun! I scanned them in groups of two and three, so they're not individual. Here they are.

Inspiration

2007-06-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday, Father's Day. But as my father lives far away, I won't see him. But today is Gabi's birthday too, so we're going to celebrate that instead. I can't believe she's five years old already.

I'm ready Inspirations by Wayne Dyer. The book itself is very inspiring and I hope that it helps me change the way I look at other people as well as troublesome situations that come up. I do believe that we can learn from whatever we go through. If we don't learn from it, it seems that the same things keep on occurring until we have discovered what we are meant to learn.

June 14, 2007

2007-06-14T20:16:00.000-07:00

Today is Thursday. I wish it was Friday, because I still have to go to work tomorrow, but I try to live in the moment. Sometimes it's difficult. I made a card today that I'm happy with. I try to do art every day because it seems that if I don't, I need to get inspired all over again.

This is a painting I did a few weeks ago. I'm calling it Golden Entrances, but I think I'll change the name eventually.